Trumps National Security Adviser says Russian meddling in election is beyond dispute minutes after foreign minister dismisses FBI charges against the 13 who interfered as just babble
HR McMaster said on Saturday the evidence Russia had meddled was incontrovertible
He laughed off the notion the US could work with the Kremlin on cyber security and accused it of sophisticated espionage
He spoke on the same stage where Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the allegations as just babble minutes earlier
Both were responding to Robert Muellers sensational indictment against 13 Russians which was returned on Friday
It charges them with systematically working to interfere with the election from 2014 to 2016
Trump has not argued with the indictment but focused on the fact that neither he nor his campaign aides colluded with them
In the indictment, FBI investigators say Trumps team were unwitting

President Trumps National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said on Saturday that Russias meddling in the election is now beyond dispute, conceding the results of Robert Muellers probe and directly contradicting the US Russian foreign minister who labeled them just babble moments earlier.

McMaster was speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday morning.

He said the evidence that there was interference is now incontrovertible and he credited Muellers investigation and the sensational, long-awaited indictment for bringing it to the surface.

As you can see with the FBI indictment, the evidence is now really incontrovertible and available in the public domain.

Laughing off the notion that the US could work with the Kremlin on the issue of cyber security in the future, he said:

I’m surprised there are any Russian cyber experts available based on how active most of them have been undermining our democracies in the West.

We would love to have a cyber dialogue when Russia is sincere about curtailing its sophisticated form of espionage.

Moments earlier on the same stage, foreign minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the indictment and its allegations.

Scroll down for video and the full indictment

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National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said on Saturday that Russias meddling in the 2016 US election was beyond dispute after the FBIs indictment

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Minutes earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the indictment was just babble and claimed the facts had not yet been proven

I have no response. You can publish anything, and we see those indictments multiplying, the statements multiplying, he said. Until we see the facts, everything else is just blabber.

He said there was an irrational myth that Russia was threatening the West, and said: traces of it are found everywhere from Brexit to the Catalan referendum.

Both were responding to the 37-page indictment returned on Friday by a grand jury which charges 13 Russian individuals and three companies with a series of crimes relating to the interference.

Among those indicted are a businessman nicknamed Putins chef, a woman who acted as a spy for the organization to come to the US in 2014 to gather intel and a computer whiz who used servers to hide troll factorys location.

Muellers office made the stunning announcement on Friday, saying that the defendants laid the groundwork for targeting U.S. elections in 2014 – and that by mid-2016 they were actively supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump ... and disparaging Hillary Clinton.

They did not suggest that there had been any collusion between them and Trumps campaign and stated in the indictment that any member of his campaign that was contacted by the trolls was unwitting.

On Friday, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said: There is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity.

He also said there was no proof that the interference successfully swayed voters.

Trump lamented it on Twitter, repeating what he and his supporters have been saying for months.

The president celebrated the indictments timeline which said the interference began before he announced his candidacy. It said any of his campaign aides were unwitting

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the charges at a press conference on Friday (above)

Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong – no collusion!

The White House issued a longer victory-lap statement afterwards.

Trump, it said, has been fully briefed on this matter and is glad to see the Special Counsels investigation further indicates — that there was NO COLLUSION between the Trump campaign and Russia and that the outcome of the election was not changed or affected.

Trump said in the statement that it is more important than ever before to come together as Americans. We cannot allow those seeking to sow confusion, discord, and rancor to be successful.

Its time we stop the outlandish partisan attacks, wild and false allegations, and far-fetched theories, which only serve to further the agendas of bad actors, like Russia, and do nothing to protect the principles of our institutions. We must unite as Americans to protect the integrity of our democracy and our elections.

Insiders told CBS that the Trump briefing prior to the announcement was held in hopes of keeping Trump from over-reacting on Twitter and ensuring the president would not break any glass over the new information.

Muellers investigation is still ongoing.

The Special Counsel has not concluded the investigation into whether Trump or his associates colluded with Russia ahead of the 2016 election, an insider told Bloomberg.

Rosenstein said the Russian defendants engaged in what they called information warfare against the United States, with the stated goal of spreading distrust toward the candidates and the political system in general.

He said the indictments are a reminder that people are not always who they appear to be.

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Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, 56, is colloquially known as Putins chef because the Russian president favors his catering and takes foreign leaders to his restaurant when they are visiting. He owns the troll factory which was the alleged vehicle of the interference

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He was later brought on as the go-to caterer for official Kremlin events. Above, Prigozhin serves Putin in 2011

How the Russians meddled in the 2016 election

A 37-page indictment released Feb. 16, 2018 by the U.S. Department of Justice accuses 13 Russians and 3 Russian companies of conspiring to compromise the most recent U.S. elections by running online campaigns disguised to look like home-grown activity.

A federal grand jury charged that they:

posed as both real and nonexistent Americans to operate social media pages and groups supporting Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders
worked to undermine support for Hillary Clinton and at leas two of Trumps Republican rivals
conducted information warfare by stealing identities and buying ads on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter
created niche groups on Facebook to attract hundreds of thousands of Muslims, evangelical Christians, people associated with Black Lives Matter, and Americans from specific regions of the country
organized real-life political rallies to support Trump and oppose Clinton
created Twitter accounts with names meant to appear linked to the Republican Party (one had more than 100,000 followers)
used foreign bank accounts to route more than $1.25 million per month to the project from companies owned by a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin
never reported the spending to the Federal Election Commission as campaign expenses
never registered as foreign agents with the Justice Department
bought space on computer servers based in America so all their Internet traffic would appear to be domestic

The Internet Research Agency, an infamous Russian Internet troll factory, is at the center of the allegations.

Rosenstein said the group set up a virtual private network in the United States to make it appear as though accounts it was running were controlled by people in the US.

Founder Evgeny Prigozhin, a Russian Oligarch and shadowy businessman known as Putins chef, is among the named defendants. Rosenstein said he funded it through two other companies.

Prigozhin, 56, is said to have used his businesses, Concord Catering and Concord Management and Consulting, to fund the Internet Research Agency, known as the Kremlin Troll factory which was the vehicle for the alleged interference.

The chef paid the salaries of the other 12 defendants who worked for the research company, it is alleged, through this financial backing which prosecutors started in 2014.

Also indicted is Mikhail Bystrov, a retired police colonel and the CEO frontman for the troll factory.

Rosenstein said Moscow was not notified in advance that Prigozhin was being investigated, or that indictments were forthcoming – a suggestion that the Justice Department is delivering a slap to Putin from 4,800 miles away.

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In this picture taken on Sunday, April 19, 2015, a women enters the four-story building known as the troll factory in St. Petersburg, Russia, the home of the Internet Research Agency

Weve had no communication with the Russians about this. Well follow the ordinary process of seeking cooperation and extradition, he said.

Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse said after Rosensteins press conference that Mueller had just put Moscow on notice.

This ought to be a wakeup call to Washington: Putins shadow war is aimed at undermining Americans trust in our institutions. We know Russia is coming back in 2018 and 2020 – we have to take this threat seriously.

The indictment says Prigozhins organization sought, in part, to conduct what it called information warfare against the United States of America through fictitious U.S. personas on social media platforms and other Internet-based media.

By in or around May 2014, the organizations strategy included interfering with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with the stated goal of spread[ing] distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general, according to the indictment.

The indictment includes a list of social media ads that the Russians paid for – all containing anti-Clinton and pro-Trump messages.

The defendants are accused of posting derogatory information about several candidates in the 2016 presidential election.

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Trump said in a statement that it is more important than ever before to come together as Americans. We cannot allow those seeking to sow confusion, discord, and rancor to be successful

By mid-2016, they made posts supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaging Hillary Clinton, the indictment says.

By September of that year, the group had a monthly budget of $125,000 and used Social Security numbers of US citizens without their consent to set up PayPal accounts and buy ads on social media, the indictment says.

Hillary is a Satan, and her crimes and lies had proved just how evil she is, read a third.

The White House said on Friday afternoon that President Trump had been notified about the Mueller teams indictment.

The indictment claims some of the defendants posed as Americans – and communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign.

It doesnt name those people.

The Russian trolls were dead-set against helping anyone other than Trump or Democratic primary hopeful Bernie Sanders, according to the indictment.

They also tried to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio,

People working for the Internet Research Agency were told to use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump- we support them).

Facebook groups and Twitter bots made up most of the online efforts. Managers at one point criticized the manager of one astroturf Facebook group called Secured Borders for having a low number of posts dedicated to criticizing Hillary Clinton.

It is imperative to intensify criticizing Hillary Clinton, the troll was warned

The 13 Russian nationals charged with interfering in the election: Putins chef, a female spy who came to the US in 2014 to gather intel and a computer whiz who used servers to hide troll factorys location

1. Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, 56, - The boss, also known as Putins Chef

According to the indictment released on Friday by Special Prosecutor Robert Muellers office, Prigozhin led the effort.

The 56-year-old is said to have used his businesses, Concord Catering and Concord Management and Consulting, to fund the Internet Research Agency, known as the Kremlin Troll factory which was the vehicle for the alleged interference.

Prigozhin paid the salaries of the other 12 defendants who worked for the research company, it is alleged, through this financial backing which prosecutors started in 2014.

The businessman is given the nickname Putins Chef because he owns restaurants favored by Putin as the venues for state dinners.

A 2016 profile of him by the Russian newsite Meduza described him as an ex-con who graduated from a boarding school only to join a gang and become convicted of attempted robbery and prostitution. He spent nine years in jail.

He gained access to St. Petersburgs elite in 1996 when he and a friend opened Staraya Tamozhnya, one of the citys finest restaurants. Until then, he had worked with his father more modesty in grocery stores and selling hot dogs.

He opened his New Island, his second restaurant, in 1997. Putin was first drawn to it in 2001 when he took the then French president Jacques Chirac there for a meal and Prigozhin served them.

He continued to cater to Putins staff at the restaurant over the years and grew closer to them. Soon, he became the go-to caterer for official state events in Moscow.

In 2010, he launched what was billed as a good-cause initiative to feed hungry schoolchildren in St Petersburg.

Putin attended the launch of food factory to celebrate it and the initiative was funded generously by state-owned bank Vnesheconombank.

A year into the project, parents became angry when they realized the food being produced was full of additives.

He then started feeding other school children in Moscow with more success, having obtained private contracts from the citys mayor.

Prigozhin won similarly lucrative contracts with the military.

In 2012, he signed a $1.2billion contract which had him provide 90 percent of the meals the Russian armys soldiers consumed. The system of outsourcing the militarys meals ended in 2013.

It gave him his biggest paycheck and associates said at the time he was known to pay for private jets with cash.

Throughout, Prigozhin was a dedicated patriot and was proud of his association to Putins government.

This lucrative relationship with the state carried on until 2013 when the laws changed and outside caterers were no longer brought in to provide the military with meals.

By then, Prigozhin had earned more than $1billion from the state through the deal.

The troll factory (Internet Research Agency) was founded that same year. Though Mikhail Bystrov was named as its owner and CEO, Russian journalists learned of Prigozhins connection to it early on.

What specifically prompted him to do it or if anyone put him up to it remains unclear.

In its genesis, the factorys employees had one job - to post complimentary post on social media about Putin and the government and besmirch the names of their opponents.

When Prigozhins association to the Internet Research Agency was revealed, he faced increased scrutiny from critics.

An article in 2015 highlighted how the factory worked and the conflict Prigozhins relationship to Putin posed.

With the bad press about him growing, Prigozhin attempted in 2016 to have himself erased from the internet. It coincided with the introduction of a new bill which gave an individual the right to be forgotten.

The law was pushed by Putin and states that websites must delete content such as news stories about an individual if it breaks the law, is false or is obsolete.

To date, Prigozhin has filed 15 lawsuits against the Russian search engine Yandex which is uncensored.

Bystrov was listed as the CEO of Internet Research Agency and his name has been linked to other companies which have been tied to the election interference.

Little is known of him other than that was an employee of the state who was born in 1958.

He, unlike Prigozhin, has not been pictured publicly with Putin and has kept himself out of the spotlight.

According to Muellers investigation, he joined IRC in 2014 as its highest ranking employee.

Bystrov was the general director. He subsequently served as the head of various other entities used by the organization to mask its activities, for example, Glavset LLC, where he was listed as that entitys general director, it reads.

Burchik was Bystrovs right-hand man at the organization, according to Muellers complaint.

He used the name Mikhail Abramov too and was instrumental in orchestrating Project Lakhta, the generously funded project which officials say was the start of the interference.

At conception, it had a budget of the equivalent of $1.25million. Lakhta involved both US and Russian-targeted interference, it claimed.

He was in charge of meetings, structure and personnel, according to Muellers indictment, had one-on-ones with Prigozhin.

4. Sergey Pavlovich Polozov, IT whiz who used US servers to hide troll factorys real location in Russia

Polozov was in charge of the IT department and his biggest responsibility was hiding the location of the Internet Researchs Agency HQ, now known to be 55 Savushkina Street in the Olgina neighborhood of St Petersburg.

Prosecutors allege that the posts its employees wrote were designed to look like they had been written by Americans who favored Trump.

This was possible, Mueller says, through the procurement of US servers which at first glance made them look like they came from America if they were ever probed.

Muellers indictment alleges: Polozov served as the manager of the IT department and oversaw the procurement of US servers and other company infrastructure that masked the organizations Russian location when conducting operations within the United States.

To hide their Russian identities, [they], particular Polozov, purchased space on computer servers located inside the US in order to set up virtual private networks (VPNs). They connected from Russia to the US-based infrastructure by way of these VPNs and conducted activity in the US, including accessing online social media accounts, opening new accounts, and communicating with real US persons - while masking the Russian origin and control of the activity, it reads.

5. Aleksandra Yurevna Krylova, female spy who came to US in 2013 to gather information and report it back

Muellers complaint gives little detail of the background lives of the lesser known employees and there is scarce information about them available.

It is suggested though that Krylova, one of four women named, was the companys spy.

In 2014, Krylova traveled to the United States under false pretenses for the purpose of collecting intelligence to inform the organizations operations, the indictment reads.

Bogacheva was tied to what the employees referred to as the translator project. It was part of the larger Project Lakhta but focused only on US audiences, it is claimed.

She too is alleged to have traveled to the US under false pretenses to gather information.

Bogacheva only worked for the company for three months between April and July 2015 but she is listed as one of the defendants.

7. Maria Anatolyevna Bovda, project manager

Bovda is described in the indictment as the head of the translator project, the designated branch of the wider pro-Putin effort which focused on US audiences.

She worked there between November 2013 and October 2014, according to the complaint.

8. Robert Sergeyevish Bovda, second in charge of project

It is not clear from the indictment whether he and Maria Bovda are related, but he acted beneath her as the second in charge of the translator project and worked at the company over the same dates.

He too is accused of trying to enter the US under false pretenses to collect information but he did not obtain a visa and could not make the trip.

9. Dzheykhun Nasimi Ogly, took over before the election

Ogly, who also used the names Jayhoon Aslanov and Ajay Aslanov took over when Maria Bovda left the project in late 2014 and he was at its helm during the election, it is claimed.

He was also listed as a director for another company which has been tied to interference and is owned by Prigozhin.

10. Vadim Vladimirovich Podkopaev, data analyst

Podkopaev joined in June 2014 and drafted social media content to be blasted by the trolls.

He also worked as a data analyst, targeting US audiences, according to the complaint.

11. Gleb Igorevich Vasilchenko, pre-election troll

Vasilchenko is accused of posting under numerous social media accounts which the factory operated from 2014 until September 2016, two months before the election.

He went on to work for sub groups which were also owned by Prigozhin and which also worked to interfere with the election, it is claimed.

As per the complaint, he was responsible for posting, monitoring and updating the social media content of many organization-controlled accounts while posing as US persons or US grassroots organizations.

12. Irina Viktorovna Kaverzina, posed as multiple US voters online

The fourth woman charged, she is alleged to have used multiple social media accounts to pose as an American and make influential posts about politics and Donald Trump.

She joined in October 2014.

When US officials launched their investigation in 2017, Kaverzine allegedly let slip to a family member that they had been busted and told how she had to spend time covering her tracks.

We had a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity (not a joke). So I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with colleagues. I created all these pictures and posts and the Americans believed it was written by their people, she wrote.

13. Vladimir Venkov, pre-election troll

Venkov, one of three designated trolls, allegedly shared the responsibilities of Kaverzina and Vasilchenko to post content online while posing as an American.